Is It Wrong to Judge? | Frank Brancato

It certainly is wonderful to be here with all of you today.

We have a wonderful crowd and we're so thankful.

We have, as has been mentioned, we have some visitors that are

among us and we want you to know you are our honored guest.

And we just simply say welcome. I've been very encouraged by the

teachings of Jesus in this masterful sermon he preached so

long ago in Matthew chapter 5-6 and seven.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

And as we continue our series on the great Sermon on the Mount,

we now come to Matthew Chapter 7 and verse #1 And I'll just say

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

at the very outset of this lesson, this verse is one of the

most misunderstood and abused passages in all of the teaching

of Jesus. Many people look at this passage

and they say to justify sinful behavior, sinful actions, or

sinful choices by saying, look, Jesus says I'm not allowed to

judge anybody and that judging is condemned.

Some people in in the attempt to try to justify cultural

relativism, make an appeal to this verse of Scripture because

sometimes people just don't believe that there's actually a

definitive standard of truth anymore.

Even though Jesus says in John 17 and 17 sanctify them by your

truth, Your word is truth. The passage that we are in

reference to is one that we all heard and one that we all know,

and that is this Matthew Chapter 7 and verse #1 Jesus says judge

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

not that you be not judged. What was Jesus saying here?

Was Jesus condemning all forms of judgment?

Here's the problem when people try to convince themselves that

there's no standard of truth, that standards don't matter and

all of that. The problem with all of that, if

that is true, then everything that we do in our life is

without responsibility and without accountability.

And you know what? Have you ever stopped to

consider? If everything in life is without

responsibility and accountability, then absolutely

nothing in life matters. Nothing matters and everybody

can do anything that they want to do and it really doesn't

matter. And I will not violate my

conscience and you can't say anything to me because after

all, Jesus says don't judge. OK, Let me just say very clearly

here, Jesus when he made that statement was not condemning all

forms of judgment. Please get that.

He is not condemning all forms of judgment.

Give you some examples in this very chapter.

Later on, beginning in verse 15, Jesus said this.

Beware of false teachers. Right after that he said this,

that we have to discriminate between what is right and what

is wrong. Furthermore, the Bible says in

first John chapter 4 and verse 1, John tells us to test the

1 John 4 · chapter mention

spirits to see that they are of God.

Some translations say try the spirits.

Who are the spirits? The spirits in reference to the

context of that passage is people that would say that

they're speaking by way of divine inspiration.

In other words, beware of those that are going to be false

teachers and understand who they might be.

Then he said this John says that we have to reject them when we

see them. Second John and chapter second

John and 10. Finally, Paul says to reject any

other gospel than that which we have been given.

That's the Word of God passed down by Apostolic teaching,

Apostolic tradition, which is the word of God in the New

Testament. And we got to reject any other

gospel. You know what that involves

every one of those things. It involves judging.

It involves making judgments. I'm going to make a bold

statement that I made a couple months ago.

I didn't expound upon it. I didn't elaborate on it.

And the reason that I did not is because I knew Matthew Chapter 7

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

was coming. But understand this, and I

believe is with all my heart, I think this is true.

Everybody makes decisions and judgments every day of your

life, even about people. We all do.

We make judgments even about people every day.

Remember, there's a difference between judging and making and

being judgmental. Somebody might say this too.

If you make a judgment about something or someone, somebody

might say, oh, you're being judgmental.

Not necessarily. What is the difference?

And this is review. What is the difference between

judging and being judgmental? Judging, you remember, is this.

It is making a decision. It is drawing a conclusion.

It is making an assessment that is based on two things, evidence

and fact. That's what it means to judge.

Anything wrong with that? Absolutely not.

What's the difference between judging and being judgmental?

The definition of the word judgmental is this.

It is being overly concerned with judging others.

One denotes an attitude. So judging is an action.

Judgmental is an attitude. What the Lord's going to condemn

is he's going to, he's going to condemn a specific kind of

judging. That all stems from an improper

attitude. That's what it means to be

judgmental. But let me just give you

something. Let me just share something with

you that can happen to us if we are overly concerned with

judging others, which is the definition of being judgmental.

Let me tell you what can happen to us.

It can cause us to meddle in affairs that are not our own.

Seems to me I read something in the word of God about that.

Seems to me that the wise man Solomon of old and Proverbs said

something about that. He said this.

He that meddles in affairs that are not his own is like taking a

dog by the ears. You want to know what that's

like? Go up to a mean old dog, go up

to his ears and get you a hoped. Go ahead.

That's what it's like when you meddle in affairs that are not

your own. I want to share something

personal with you. Many years ago, when I was young

and I'm no longer that, when I was young and I decided I'm a

crack out and preach, I got a lot of tremendous, wonderful

advice from a lot of people, much of which came from older

preachers and I cherished everything they ever said to me.

Some of those preachers that I dearly loved and respected are

no longer with us. Some still are, many aren't.

But you know what? One of the greatest bits of

advice that I was ever given was given to me by a sister in

Christ. And you know who she is?

Her name was Patsy King. You know what Patsy said to me

one day? I was about ready to crack out

and go preach. She said, listen, she was trying

to tell me, beware when you go places that people don't pull

you in and try to draw you into all their stuff.

And then all of a sudden you're getting involved in matters that

are not none of your business. She said to this.

And you know, if you know Patsy, she's just looking.

I love her. She'll look at you right in the

eye and get you told. She'll just get it straight out.

I love it right from the hip. And Patsy said this to me.

She said, Frankie, you go hold your meetings, you preach your

little sermons, you collect your little check and you haul your

freight out of there. Great stuff.

You know, I'm glad for that. But she didn't need to tell me

that because I don't want to do that.

I'm too busy with my own work and my own stuff then to be

involved or force myself into situations that are not none of

my business, like a very famous football coach said one time.

I'm just trying to keep my own house and burn it down to then

to be concerned with other affairs and other things that

are not my business. Remember, judging is an action.

Judgmental is an attitude. That being said, in context,

what is the Lord condemning? He is condemning #1 hypocritical

judgment. Please get that hypocritical

judgment. We'll get to what that actually

is, but that's what he's condemning now.

The Jewish religious elite that made-up the scribes and the

Pharisees and the Sadducees, they were so filled with their

own self righteousness, it led to what?

It led to the unjust condemnation of others.

Hypocritical judgment. Case in point, by the way, the

Pharisee and the public, and I don't have time to go into that.

I'll just make the statement because you all know the story.

When the Pharisee looked down his nose at the at the public

and or the tax collector and when he prayed to God and he

thanked God for all the great things that he was all about, he

was doing often times what we can fall prey to.

And if we're not careful, we can make the awful mistake of doing

this. Please get this because

sometimes we do this, we garnish our own traits and we tarnish

the traits of other people and that's something we need to be

careful about. OK, let's go to the passage and

let's look at the word judge. What does the word judge

actually mean in the passage? The word judge refers to this.

It refers to prejudicial or unfair condemnation.

That's what the Lord was talking about.

I like what JW Mcgarvey said. JW Mcgarvey said it this way.

He said all judging from surmise or from insufficient premises or

from ill will is prohibited. That's what he's talking about,

by the way. What is judging by surmise?

It's assuming something is true without evidence.

It's making a judgment that is not based on evidence.

You know what it also is? It's insufficient premises,

making the determination based on that, too.

How many times has somebody took a little bit of information,

they didn't get down to the bottom of the whole thing, and

then they drew a conclusion about somebody that really

wasn't true and then went out and told everybody about it.

And they drew a conclusion about somebody that was not true

because it was by surmise or insufficient premises.

Seems to me that that wise man Solomon said something about

that too. In Proverbs 18 and 13, it says

he that answers a matter before he hears it is like folly and

shame to him. When we're making judgments,

especially with regards to people, let's do our best to get

to the bottom of it and get all the facts.

But before we make a judgment about somebody that may not be

true, let's not judge by surmise.

All right then Jesus says this in verse 2.

Keep going back to the clicker is not working for with what

judgement you judge, you will be judged, and with what measure

you use, it will be measured to you Again.

Remember, the way we judge is the way God's going to judge us

in a secondary sense too. By the way, if I am unmerciful

in my judgement of others or unfair in my judgement of

others, isn't it true that there's a pretty good chance

when other people judge me, they're going to be unfair too?

It's it's highly possible that's going to happen, or if I judge

in a good way, it's highly possible that people are going

to judge me in the same way. But that's not the context.

That's not the point. The point is the judgement that

really matters is judgement from the Lord.

And that's what Jesus is saying. For with what judgement you

judge, you will be judged, and with what measure you use, it

will be measured back to you again.

OK, remember a couple things Jesus has already said.

He said this. Only the merciful are going to

obtain mercy. Only those that forgive are

going to be forgiven. And James says that judgment is

without mercy to one who shows no mercy.

So here's the point. If we self righteously and

unmercifully judge others, then God's going to hold us to that

very strict standard. OK, got to make a point here.

Got to slip something in. I don't want you to

misunderstand me. This is not saying that if I

wink at the sin of somebody else, God's going to wink at my

sin. That doesn't mean that at all.

You know why? Because God doesn't wink at any

sin. And I can't wink at any sin, and

you can't wink at any sin. We're going to all stand before

the judgment seat of Christ. We all have to give an account

for what we do. We're not talking about winking

at sins. What we're talking about is the

way that we are either merciful or unmerciful.

I don't have time to go into this very far, but Matthew

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

chapter 18, when Jesus gave the parable of the unmerciful

servant, what a powerful passage.

Peter had come to Jesus, and Peter says, Lord, how many times

shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?

Seven times, Peter said, and Jesus says, no, I say to you not

7 times, but 70 * 7. In other words, an infinite

amount of time, right? Then Jesus gives a masterful

parable. He said the Kingdom of heaven is

likened unto a king. What do that is is likened unto

a king who's got all these servants.

And one day he calls in the servants and he calls in their

debts. In other words, I'm going to

settle up with my servants. One servant comes to him and he

owes 10,000 talents a huge amount.

The man comes to the master. The master says you can't pay

me. He says you're going to be sold,

your wife's going to be sold and your kids are going to be sold

and all that you have is going to be sold to satisfy the debt.

The servant falls down before the master and he says have

mercy on me and I will pay you all.

The Bible says the master showed compassion for him and he

forgave the entire debt. Then that servant that was

forgiven a tremendous amount had another fellow servant that owed

him a little amount, 100 denarii.

And he goes to that man and he not only tells him pay me, he

grabs him by the throat and he says pay me what you owe me.

I don't have the money. He said.

He falls down before his fellow servant and he says have mercy

on me and I will pay you all. He said Nope, no mercy at all.

And he threw him into prison because he couldn't pay his

debt. The servants got together and

they went to the master and they told him what happened and the

master was angry and the master went to that unforgiving servant

and he went to him and he said this.

I forgave you a huge amount. You should have extended the

same mercy for your fellow servant and extended him that

same forgiveness. Now I'm going to deliver you to

the the new King James says the torturers, wow.

Until your dead is satisfied. The King James says the

tormentors until your dead is satisfied.

Then Jesus sums it up like this. He said, So you're my heavenly

Father also will do to you, if each of you from his heart does

not forgive his brother his trespasses.

I like what Branus said. Branus said this.

I thank him best and most thoughtless, who pardons others

as if he himself sinned every day, yet abstains from sins as

if he pardoned no one. OK, then we get to verse 3.

And by the way, there's so many things I can say.

I got to keep moving. We got a lot to cover.

We got to keep moving. So let's go to verse 3.

Jesus says, and why do you look at the speck that is in your

brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own

eye? I'm going to tell you what

people think this means. Sometimes people think that

Jesus was talking about a tiny thing versus a big thing, a tiny

sin versus a big thing, and that the speck was just some tiny

little insignificant thing. Robertson said it this way.

This word is not referring to a minute piece of dirt, but rather

to a piece of dried wood or other small particle that could

be blown into the eye and cause irritation.

So we're not talking about just a tiny, tiny, tiny little

Chrome. We're talking about something

that still is significant. He's not comparing a tiny sin

with a big sin. Please get this, He's up.

He's comparing a big sin with a gigantic sin.

Got to make a point about big and small because I know, you

know, I believe sin is sin in the eyes of God.

So what makes something a bigger sin or a lesser sin if it's all

sin in the eyes of God? Lying in the eyes of God is just

as so condemning. If we don't make those things

right as murder, what's the difference between what really

we can consider a smaller sin and a bigger sin?

It's not by way of how God looks at it.

It's by way of this because all sin is awful in the eyes of God,

OK, and we all have sin. It's talking about this when you

talk about big or small. Some sins have greater

ramifications than other sins. Some sins have bigger

consequences than other sins. That's what it's talking about.

It's all sin in the eyes of God. And we're going to find out.

By the way, we need to work together and helping each other

rid all that from all of our life.

OK, so first of all, he said about the speck.

Then he says about the word plank.

What does that mean? In the King James, the word

means beam, but the word means plank or square timber, such as

would hold up a house according to Mr. Barnes.

Here's the point. Before we try to hypocritically

propose to extract a smaller yet significant sin in the life of

our brother, clean up your own backyard 1st and rid your own

backyard of those sins that are in your life too.

It is unjust, please get this. And it is unchristian to judge

another harshly while missing the gross errors in our life.

That's the point. It's kind of like this.

It's kind of like a blind ophthalmologist that thinks he's

qualified to remove somebody else's cataracts.

My brother-in-law, Darren, is brilliant and he's blind and

he's brilliant. I would trust him to do all

manner of things. I don't want him working on my

eyes, right? Same principle.

Look at verse 4. Or how can you say to your

brother, let me remove the speck from your eye and look, a plank

is in your eye. JW Mcgarvey said it like this.

He said the Lord's statement must not be construed as

requiring us to get rid of all of our faults before we can

attempt to correct others. He's not saying that for on this

condition none would be qualified for the position of

teachers, but it requires that we shall rid ourselves of a

given fault preparatory to rebuking that fault in another.

Then verse 5. Hypocrite, first remove the

plank from your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove

the speck from your brother's eye.

Verse 4 describes somebody who seemingly ignores the gross sins

in his life but sets out to fix somebody else, right.

I love verse 5 though, because verse 5 gives the process by

which both sinners can be cured because guess what?

Both are sinners and nobody's perfect.

You know what I thought about? I thought about Kylie.

She was a little girl when this happened.

We were having a little Bible study and I had the kids over at

my house and they were little. And we were talking about

sometimes people make mistakes. And from the mouth of babes, the

precious little voice that sat there and said, yeah, because

nobody's perfect. Nobody's perfect.

Verse 5 is a matter of two people recognizing that they're

not perfect. It is the manner in which we can

help each other. But the first person going to

the other person, we're going to talk about how we do that.

We're going to get specific later, but when you look at that

idea and that concept, it is a matter of two people recognizing

that neither one is perfect but has love for the other one and a

love for the Lord to get it right.

We're going to talk about those steps, but first we have to look

at the word hypocrite. Why is this hypocritical

judgement? It is hypocritical judgement

when we do this, when we attempt to cure another of the same

disease of sin that we refuse to cure in our self.

And I got to tell you that can be generally, and that can also

be specifically in a general sense where nobody's perfect and

everybody has sins. It applies, OK, But have you

ever stopped to consider that it also applies very specifically?

Isn't it true that sometimes we are harshest on people who are

guilty of the very same things that we are guilty of?

I've seen it happen. Got one example for you?

Number of years ago, there was one brother who was incredibly

harshly in his attitude, judging another brother.

Was he wrong with judging? The brother said absolutely not,

we have to do that. His attitude was incredibly

harsh and without mercy. You know what else it was?

It was also hypocritical. You know why He slammed this

brother for five years and then I found out five years later he

was guilty of the very same sin. That's hypocritical judgement.

Unmerciful hypocritical judgement.

That's what the Lord's condemning.

OK, then Jesus says this. This is what you're going to do

first. First remove the plank from your

own eye. And when you do that, I love it,

then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your

brother's eye. I've heard Matthew Chapter 7

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

beginning in verse one and going all the way through the specks

and the beams and all of that. I've heard people say what that

means is Jesus says don't judge it all.

We're not allowed to judge. Everybody's got specs,

everybody's got beams, everybody's got their own stuff.

So everybody just worry about yourself and leave everybody

alone. That's not what he said.

Don't you see? The Lord is saying, here's

something very powerful. He's saying we have a

responsibility to each other. First, get the plank out of your

eye so you can what? Help your brother get the speck

out of his eye. Have you ever stopped to

consider the tremendous responsibility we have toward

each other when it comes to sins in our life?

A tremendous responsibility. Let's go to Galatians chapter 6.

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

Brethren, if any man is overtaken in any trespass, you

who are spiritual restore such an one in a spirit of

gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be

tempted. The word trespass is often

translated fault. So if anyone is overtaken in a

fault, guess what? We're not perfect.

We're going to be overtaken from time to time.

Please understand this. The motive is not to crush him,

demoralize him, make him feel rotten, line him out.

No, there's a motive behind the ACT.

What do you got to do? You got to go to the person.

And who are the ones to do it? Those that are spiritual.

What's that mean? Oh, is that the preacher?

Is that the elder? Is that the Deacon?

That the other church leaders? Is that Christians that have

been members of the church for 50 years?

Is it the people that walk around thinking they got it all

figured out? I want to know, because this is

very practical, who are the ones that are spiritual?

Because it's very important. If somebody's overtaken in any

trespass, somebody's spiritual has got to come to the rescue.

Who's that? What does it mean to be

spiritual? Not somebody that's that's

finally reached some higher level of perfection because

nobody's going to do it. It is simply those that are

walking. Please get this according to the

Spirit or the Word of God. Give you some Bible though

Galatians chapter 5 verse 16. I say them, walk in the spirit

Galatians 5:16

and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Galatians 5 and 25, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk

in the Spirit. So who are those that are spirit

in the spirit or those that are spiritual are those that aren't

living in the Spirit? Who are those that are living in

the Spirit, those that are walking in the Spirit?

How do you know if you're living in the spirit and walking in the

Spirit? I said this two months ago in

another sermon. Going to be very brief about it,

but I'm going to hit it again. The only way that you really

know and that everybody else really knows, if you're living

in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit, it's when you are

manifesting in your life the fruit of the Spirit.

The Bible says by you, their fruits, you shall know them.

I'm not going to go into every one of these like I did last the

last time I did. I'm just going to mention them

briefly. But the fruit of the Spirit is

Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Against such there is no law that is the fruit of the Spirit.

OK. And as I said before, big

debate, is this referring to my human spirit?

Is it referring to the Holy Spirit?

Does it involve my human spirit? Does it involve the Holy Spirit?

Here it is. It's both.

Thayer says the word fruit means nature.

OK, He said the word spirit here means Spirit of God.

Who's that? That's the Holy Spirit, OK?

These things exist independent of me, and they don't become my

fruit in my life by direct operation of the Holy Spirit or

miraculously, something has to happen.

What has to happen when I make the willful choice by my human

spirit to apply the fruit of the Holy Spirit to my life?

That's by choice. And guess what?

Then all these wonderful qualities, which is the nature

of the Holy Spirit, becomes my fruit.

And when that happens, everybody looking at me can know that I'm

a Christian and I can say, oh, I'm not perfect, but what am I?

I'm spiritual. If you're living according to

God's Word, you are spiritual. On the flip side, though, on the

flip side, if we're not obeying the dictates of the Spirit and

we're following the impulses of the flesh, then the flip side of

that is we are carnal. 1st Corinthians 3 and three, you are

carnal for where there are envy, strife, divisions among you, are

you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

OK, so here's Paul's point here. When somebody falls into sin,

when they fall to the human tendencies, somebody spiritual

has to come to the rescue. To do what?

Please get this restore. What's restore mean restore.

How many times did Jesus in his teaching tell us the importance

of the attitude behind the ACT or the motive behind the ACT?

Jesus would make statements like this, you have heard that it had

been said, and then quote something from the Old

Testament, he says. But I say to you, in other

words, even the motive behind the ACT is in question or judged

by God. What's the motive?

The motive for going to your brother that's overtaken in any

trespass or fault. Somebody that is spiritual,

following the dictates of the Spirit, manifesting those things

in his life by willful choice, has to go to restore that

person. What's the word mean?

The word restore means this comes from a Greek word that

means to mend. It carries the idea of repairing

something that is broken or damaged.

I found in my life people are more inclined to listen to

others when they're being taught and not just being told.

People would rather be taught than told.

When you go to restore, you have to have the mindset and the

spirit of teaching them why that they're in error or wrong,

because you love them, because you want to do what you want to

fix that which is broken. I love what it says in Hebrews

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12. Notice, therefore, strengthen

the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make

straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be

dislocated, but rather healed. OK, he says this.

Somebody's spiritual got to come to the rescue for the purpose of

restoration, but you got to do it with the right way, in the

spirit of gentleness. You've heard me say this.

I got a number of Frank isms. I'm old enough now to have a

bunch of Frank isms, and people usually know what they are.

Preachers get these isms. You know, the things that you

say, like Cullen Smith, he always says been there, done

that, saw the video about the T-shirt.

I mean, it's a Cullen ISM and preachers sometimes have isms

that they say all the time. You've heard me say this, I'm

going to say it again. If you have to remove a family

from somebody's forehead, you don't need a hammer.

Paul says. Do it in the spirit of

gentleness. And by the way, that's one of

the fruits of the Spirit. Then he says this considering

yourself, lest you also be tempted.

You know, there's two things involved here.

Number one, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.

Number one, please get this. Don't ever think it could never

happen to you. Don't ever have the mindset it

could never happen to you. That's one way you can be

tempted. Paul said consider yourself lest

you're tempted in that way. Don't do that number two way you

can be tempted. Don't feel in a spirit of

arrogance or conceit or condescension or haughtiness,

because you're the one doing the correcting and you think you're

better than that person. Don't do that either.

Consider yourself lest you also be tempted, and do so in the

spirit of gentleness for the purpose of restoration to fix

that which is broken. Wow.

Then he says this. I love this.

Then he says bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law

of Christ. The word burdens by definition

is heavy loads, hard to carry. And I got to say it is a general

principle as a Christian that we bear one another's burdens in

general. Like I'm going to just give you

some examples like illness, setbacks, catastrophes, loss,

pain, suffering. All of that is true in a general

sense. And Paul deals with that in

First Corinthians 12 where the body of Christ and members

individually, when one suffers, we all suffer.

When one rejoices, we all rejoice.

That is a biblical, biblical principle.

But the context of this bearing one another's burdens is not

talking about that. The context of this word

burdens, which is heavy loads, hard to carry, goes back to

verse one. What is the context of verse

one? If anyone's overtaken in a

trespass or a fault or a sin? So in context, I am responsible

to my brother. After I go to him to restore or

pick him up, I got more to do. I have to bear his burdens,

which are heavy loads that are hard to carry, heavy burdens

that are causing him to sin that's helping him through those

temptations. That's what the passage is

talking about in context. Heavy burdens that are causing

your brother's sin. I'm going to tell you something.

Temptation is a heavy burden and a heavy load, isn't it?

Heavy burden and heavy load. You know what else is really

heavy? Habitual sin.

And many times, many times when we have habitual struggles, they

are the same things that we struggle with over and over and

over again. Everybody's got their own, but

usually it's the habitual things that keep rearing up their head

at us. And just because a person is

restored and forgiven doesn't mean the temptation is gone.

In fact, you know what? Sometimes those temptations come

with such force. They pull us back into those

sinful habits. So what do we got to do?

We go to them and we pick them up.

But then we got to hold them up too.

How do we hold them up? James 5/16 Confess your

trespasses to one another and pray one for another that you

may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of

a righteous man avails much. Obviously, I've referenced this

passage hundreds of times with you, so I'm just going to say

this prayer is first and foremost the effective fervent

prayer of a righteous man avails much.

James 516 is talking about habitual struggles.

That's what he's talking about. If I have a habitual struggle,

I'm going to confess that to my brother and he's going to pray

for me In the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails

much. That is first, that is foremost.

That is true. But please, let's not

underestimate the importance of a secondary benefit or a

practical benefit, which is this.

How about accountability? I've just made myself

accountable to my brother, and he's going to work with me and

help me. And you know why?

Why? That's going to be great.

You know, it takes 21 days to remove a habit, maybe sometimes

even longer, and it takes 21 days, they say, to form a new

habit. If I'm working with my brother

and I know not only helped him up, but now I'm holding him up,

he's accountable to me. I'm praying for him.

The longer he goes, the better chance he has to lose that bad

habit and get a better one. Wow, isn't that great stuff from

the Lord. May I suggest something please?

If somebody confides in you, keep it to yourself.

Nobody has the right or the business to know anything that

your brother confided in you regarding something personal in

their life like that. I'm going to tell you something

right now. I knew of a case.

This is awful. Somebody confided in somebody

and asked that person not to repeat it.

The person said they wouldn't repeat it.

Do you know how long it took for that information to travel

across the United States and back to the the place of origin?

Yeah. How long you took?

Two hours. Shame on them.

Shame on them. I'm so thankful that I have some

people in my life. Then if I confided in them, I

know for a fact they'll take it to their grave.

I've told my pal Don L King things that I know he took to

his grave, that he didn't even tell Patsy because he said to

me, I won't even tell Patsy unless you give me permission.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

That's what it's about. If somebody confides in you with

the struggle that they're going through, keep it to yourself.

Oh, such damage can be done. What happens when we bear one

another's burdens? Paul said you fulfill the law of

Christ. What is the law of Christ?

Everything that the Jesus describes and that's all that

matters. No specifically when you do that

you fulfill the law of Christ and the law of Christ is the law

of love. John chapter 13 beginning verse

John 13 · chapter mention

34 A new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I

have loved you, that you also love one another.

By this all will know that you are my disciples, If you have

love one for the other. Galatians 5 and verse 14 For all

the law is fulfilled in one word, even this you shall love

your neighbor as yourself. OK, so in this passage that

we've already talked about burdens here and I'm almost

finished. Burdens here in this passage are

heavy loads that are causing your brother to sin.

OK, what about in verse 5 when the King James Version says that

we all must bear our own burden? Let's look at that passage.

For each one shall bear his own. The new King James says load.

Is there a contradiction? Absolutely not.

What he's saying is here. The word load are things that we

will all give an account for. What it means is this, we need

each other to help each other and to bear one another's

burdens that cause us to sin. You know why?

Because all of us are going to have to stand before God and

bear our own burden. That's why got to work out our

own salvation. By the way, working out your own

salvation doesn't mean I do it my way.

You do it your way, and we all choose our own thing and that's

not what that means. Working out your own salvation

is this. Here's the standard.

It doesn't mean I choose my own standard.

It means here's the standard and I got to work it out on my own.

That's why it's so important. It's so important that young

people understand something vital to their Christianity.

And I say young people because you know why?

Because young people, when they're raised, they brought the

church, they brought the services, they become

Christians. They follow what they've been

taught, they follow what they they've been told, they follow

the example. But you know what?

Something has to happen for every one of those young people

at some point. That faith has to become their

own. That faith has to become their

own faith. Not the faith of their Father,

not the faith of their mother, but their own faith.

That's when it all begins with working out your own salvation

with fear and trembling. But the faith has to be based

upon 1 standard, and that's the word of God, not our own way to

choose. OK?

You've been such a wonderful audience.

So now we come to the three words that sometimes we long to

hear. And that's and in conclusion,

here we go. In conclusion, what did we learn

today? Number one, please get this.

Jesus did not condemn judging of all kinds.

And if somebody would say Jesus said you can't judge, that's not

what he said. What Jesus condemned is

hypocritical, prejudicial, overly harsh judgment and

judgment with the wrong attitude or the wrong motive.

That's what he was condemning. So if that is the case, when we

do make judgments, and we must, the motive behind the ACT has to

be this, to pick up, hold up and build each other up.

That's the point. That's what we got to do.

That's our job. We're in this together.

We never know the hearts and minds of those that are present.

I don't know how it is with you, but maybe you're here today and

you're not a Christian. We never teach from the Word of

God without extending an invitation to somebody that

might be subject to the gospel call.

The steps to become a Christian are very simple.

First of all, you got to hear the Word of God.

Romans 10/17 So faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word

of God. After we hear the word of God,

we have a choice. We have to believe with all our

heart. Hebrews 11 and 6.

Without faith it's impossible to please Him, for he who comes to

God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those

who diligently seek him. Then what?

I got to repent of my sins. I got to make the determined

resolve in my life. I'm no longer going to live in

the direction that I was living or the direction I was going.

I want to live for God. I'm going to change my life.

It's called repentance. Acts 17 and 30.

Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands

all men everywhere to repent. And then what?

Then be willing to confess Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

The greatest words you will ever said, say then Philip said, if

you believe with all your heart, you may.

And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the

Son of God. Upon taking these steps of

obedience, you're now a fit candidate to go to the point of

salvation, and that's to be baptized for the remission of

sins. Mark 1616.

The Lord said this, he who believes and is baptized will be

saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.

Maybe you've taken these steps of obedience.

Maybe you've drifted. Maybe there are things in your

life that you need to correct. Then just repent of those

things. Confess those things.

We'll pray with you and for you, and God will forgive and

restore. Be one of either class.

Come forward while we stand, while we see.